Classical, June 1

JS BACH
Suites for Cello 2, 3 & 6 (transcriptions by Simon Rowland-Jones)Maxim Rysanov (viola) BIS BIS2033
When the young Ukrainian’s recording of Rowland-Jones’s transcriptions of the
first, fourth and fifth Cello Suites was released in 2010, my only complaint
was that he hadn’t given us all six of them. Four years has seemed a long
wait, but here are Nos 2 (D minor), 3 (C major) and 6 (D major). If
anything, Rysanov’s playing has grown in depth of feeling, virtuosity and
tone colour. He plays the D minor Suite with a different bow than for the
other two suites recorded here, and he eschews a shoulder rest, something I
suspect only specialists or viola players will notice. He also abandons the
practice adopted by viola players of transposing the music down to G major —
although obviously it sounds higher than when a cellist plays it — and
sticks